“They have worked diligently on the place and kept the site clean,” she said.

Durflinger is in her second term as a council member and the Gothic House project has been ongoing way before that.

“People have been working on it for years, slowly, steadily,” she said. “Now, it’s very exciting.”

Fellow commitee member Priscilla Coffman agreed.

“It’s so exciting,” she said.

Coffman said they will soon be advertising for an administrator for the new Gothic House Center. The position will be filled in February and March 1 is the first day of the job.

Volunteers are still doing their part for the center. Gene Stacey is building cabinets for the gift shop.

“So many have lined up to help,” Coffman said.

The committee is considering having home-crafted things about Eldon, “souvenir kinds of thing,” for sale in the gift shop.

“The bottom line is we would be using proceeds to pay for the center’s upkeep,” she said. “We don’t want to be a burden to the county.”

Coffman said the center has a board of directors, created through a 28E agreement between Eldon and Wapello County. The city council chose Coffman and Donna Jeffrey and the Wapello County Board of Supervisors appointed Kurt Baker and Sam Rodgers from the county conservation board.

“The four of us together got to appoint the fifth person so we appointed Supervisor Steve Siegel,” she said.

Jeffrey is the fourth committee member and has worked hard on grants for the Gothic Center. Now she is board president, according to Coffman, who is board secretary.

Coffman said Jeffrey is also involved with the Gothic trail that will hook up with Ottumwa Trail System and Gothic Area Tourism of Eldon.

For information about the Gothic Center, contact Carrie at Eldon City Hall at (641) 652-7510.